A strain of the coronavirus infection called Omicron has already been detected in 89 countries around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports
“As of 16 December 2021, the omicron variant has been detected in 89 countries in all six WHO regions”, – the organisation said in a bulletin.
According to WHO, the omicron strain “has a significant growth advantage” over the delta strain and that it “spreads significantly faster than the delta variant in countries where community transmission is documented”.
It is also noted that the COVID-19 ‘omicron’ strain is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of immunity in their populations. WHO is of the opinion that Omicron will overtake the delta strain in some time in places where transmission of the coronavirus within communities has been observed.
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach warned of the beginning of the fifth wave of coronavirus infection due to the active spread of the omicron strain COVID-19.